The Ring Of Iron

The title of this post sounds scary, right? You have no idea. But only if you are Welsh.

I am fairly confident that growing up and going to school in England until the age of 11 that I studied some sort of English history. Not like detailed complicated stuff in Primary School but something I am sure. But before I started returning back to the country of my birth every two years-ish (no trip during 2020 because of COVID...) starting in 2014, I'm finding that I really didn't understand much about English history at all. And by English history, of course, I mean British history.

Let me take a quick stab at how I would sum up English / British history from the time I was 11 to let's say when I was 46ish.

A long time ago there were Picts and Gaels and Angles and Saxons living on what is now Britain. Eventually they got themselves organized and some how, some way, they decided that someone should be king. Then in 1066, William the Conqueror invaded from France, killed King Harold and took over the throne and thus the entire island of Britain. A couple of centuries later, there was a civil war started by some dude named Oliver Cromwell and that lasted a few years until the crown was restored. After that...the War of the Roses...exploration and colonization all over the world...Queen Victoria...and then we're at the 20th century.

That's it. That's my take on English / British history from when I was 11 and supplemented by absolutely zero learning for the subsequent 35 years or so.

Of course, it's way wrong. I mean, it's not exactly wrong. It's just missing some subtleties. 

Take what is now Wales, for example. And we'll start with William the Conqueror and 1066. 

Edward I, King of England 1272-1307.

When William the Conqueror took over what at that time was England, he established control over as much territory as possible by dividing his newly acquired land among lords that were loyal to him. That strategy allowed him to maintain control over a ton of land without having to secure the area with any sort of National or Crown-provided military force. But he didn't control the entire island of Britain right away. There were local warlords and landowners in charge of their own piece of turf who didn't turn over their lands to the Conqueror as soon as he was crowned. 

And spoiler alert: that situation lasted way beyond the rule of William the Conqueror. Over the centuries there was a ton of small scale, localized fighting and changing of hands of lands. Let's go forward in time about 150 years beyond 1066 and let's focus on Wales. Specifically the north of Wales. Which was decidedly not under the control of the English king at the beginning of the 13th century.

In the early part of the 13th century (so the early 1200s...), much of what is now the north part of Wales was controlled by a Prince named Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (or Llywelyn the Great). By all accounts, he was one of the greatest or maybe THE greatest Prince to have ever ruled the northwest part of Wales which somehow carried the title Prince of Wales. During his rule, Llywelyn managed to transform a territory ruled by lords engulfed in continual civil war into a territory which worked on all levels. He was even officially recognized as the Prince of Wales by the English crown.

But then in 1240, Llywelyn the Great died. And after a brief period where his son, Daffyd, was mostly kind of sort of in charge but then also died, all of Llywelyn the Great's lands and holdings passed to his grandson, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. And this is where the end of Welsh independence started. 

Conwy Castle, as seen from the opposite bank of the River Conwy.

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was no Llywelyn ab Iorwerth. He feuded with neighboring lords. He treated his people poorly. He started to call himself the Prince of Wales without endorsement from the King (who was then Edward I). And when Edward I called Llywelyn to Chester to pay homage, he declined the invitation. Now most of these things may seem like small stuff, but the direct snub to the King was pretty bold for the 1200s. And pretty bold to do it to Edward. We'll get to that last part.

Eventually of all Llywelyn's nonsense got to be too much for Edward and he mustered an army and marched on north Wales in 1277. Victory was swift and the resulting Treaty of Aberconwy left Llywelyn in place as a recognized Prince of Wales but with much reduced lands. That defeat and reduction in power really didn't sit well with either Llywelyn or his half brother Daffyd. 

Lots of Llywelyns and Daffyds in this story, I realize. Apologies. It will be over soon.

Five years later, Llywelyn was back at it, this time waging war on neighboring lords in the name of Welsh independence. And this time, Edward had had just about as much as he could take was determined to leave Wales with a different outcome. He marched on Wales again but this time killed Llywelyn (and Daffyd, who ended up with his head on a spike) and kept the land he captured, determined never to deal with Welsh rebellion or skirmishes again. 

To ensure control of the land (and complete subjugation of Wales), Edward decided not to rely on anyone Welsh to hold lands and keep things in order. Nor did he settle on some kind of agent of the Crown to do the same thing. Instead, he relocated a population of English men, women and children into Wales and granted them land and safety. And he constructed a series of ten castles from Howarden and Flint in the northeast down to Aberystwyth and Builth in the southwest. The castles collectively were known as the Ring of Iron and they were there for one purpose: to make sure Wales would never have any illusions about being independent ever again.

I am sure there is a ton of detail missing in my four paragraph description of two wars waged by Edward I on Wales. But I think a little history is important every now and then. Or like maybe all the time.

Caernarfon Castle, as seen from the parking lot.

So, we visited some castles in Wales. Let me say a few words about that because this is not something we would normally do. And this is going to make me sound spoiled.

One of the side effects of traveling so much (I know...poor me...just bear with me here...) is that we end up seeing a lot of the same sorts of things in all sorts of different points on the globe and we start to get numb to the exposure of it all. I don't know how many churches, royal palaces and botanical gardens we have been to over the last 13 years or so but it's a lot. I mean like a ton. So many that we really start to question if we really need to go to another one. I mean how is it going to be any different than the last one or two of five or ten of whatever we happen to be thinking about visiting?

Castles are on this list, although let's face it, this is mostly an issue only in Europe. Since I turned 45, I've been to castles in Germany, Ireland, Scotland and maybe one or two other places and they are all pretty much the same. Big stone walls; no roofs; maybe a moat and a drawbridge; a dungeon sometimes; and maybe a keep or some lawns inside. If there's one place I associate castles with more than any other land, it's Britain. I grew up there in a town with a castle in it, for crying out loud. We can't visit every castle that is near where we are going when we travel. We just can't.

So when I drafted my first list of what we could possibly see in England and Wales, the list had a few castles on it. Seriously? After all that numb-ness, I wanted to visit another castle or two? The answer is yes. Because some of those castles in the Ring of Iron built by Edward I are quite possibly the best that have ever been designed and built on this planet ever. And yes, that sentence deserved two "ever"s. We had to visit some castles in Wales.

The outside walls of Conwy (top) and Caernarfon (bottom).

We picked two. And then added a third. 

When I wrote earlier that Edward I built a series of 10 castles to make up the Ring of Iron, that wasn't exactly true. It would be more accurate to say that he started building 10 castles but some were just never finished, including one of the three that we visited. Castles cost a lot of money, even for kings, and building 10 of these things in quick succession apparently was more than the Crown could afford. 

Four of Edward's 10 castles have been honored with a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. These four today (Harlech, Beaumaris, Caernarfon and Conwy) are largely intact and apparently exhibit outstanding military architecture design courtesy of Edward's castle architect, James of St. George. We selected two of these four to visit, Caernarfon and Conwy, and then added a third in Aberystwyth Castle, which just happened to be there in rainy Aberystwyth and totally free when we were in town. Other than the picture below, I'm skipping Aberystwyth. There's just not much to engage with there.

Some of what's left of Aberystwyth Castle, built after the first of Edward's Wales campaigns.

Both Conwy (1283-1287) and Caernarfon (1283-1330, but never completed) are castles that are attached to a larger city wall. Harlech and Beaumaris are not. We didn't know this before we got there. We just happened to pick two that we're a combined castle and attached town in one package. Both the castles and the walls were built by Edward: the castle to hold the royal quarters and those Crown officials needing those sorts of accommodations and the town to hold the English citizens that Edward imported to Wales as part of his plan to crush the spirit of the Welsh.

Generally speaking, the condition of both castles and their attached walls are pretty similar. The perimeter of each of the castles is generally intact, with impressive towers (like lots of towers) at various points around exterior walls. The town wall at Conwy is intact; you can actually walk around the whole of the perimeter as long the town is not performing work on parts of the wall when you are in town like they were in late May of 2026. Caernarfon's walls are a bit less continuous. There are clearly spots which are largely intact, particularly along the west side of the town.

Once you move inside of each castle, the condition of the interior is also pretty similar between the two. There's basically nothing there. Maybe a stone vault or arch here and there but they are way more runied on the inside than the outside. This makes a ton of sense. The interiors of medieval castles didn't need to be made out of stone. The shell was the thing that mattered and stone was expensive. Less durable interors made sense on a number of levels. 

A model showing Caernarfon Castle and the attached town. Very GOT-ish.

The presence of both castles when you are next to them is super impressive. The walls are thick and high and full of murder holes, tiny gaps through which things can be dropped on sieging forces with a very low risk of any retaliation. They are also both sited next to a significant body of water, restricting any sort of land attack. 

If you plan to visit and you want to be fairly comprehensive about your time in these castles, plan on about an hour for Conwy and about twice that for Caernarfon. And by walking the whole thing (or most of each one) you get a sense for how the circulation is or is not tied together. I don't know how many towers there are at Caernarfon but each one seems like it's one way up and one way down and there's nothing joining these things together above absolute ground level. That means a ton of climbing to get up each one. On the day we visited Caernarfon, my step counter on my phone topped out at over 12,000 steps and I'm convinced at least half of those were actual steps climbing and descending the very large and oversized steps in Caernarfon's towers. At the end of two hours, I was done climbing steps. I can't believe people ever could do this in armor.

Of the two castles, I'd go with Conwy as my favorite. I'm half convinced I'm developing some sort of ADD as I age and definitely taking in something that was smaller with fewer spaces to investigate was preferred over massive Caernarfon. I also think if someone asked a random person to draw a castle, there's a good chance that they would produce something close to what Conwy looks like. It's like a cartoon version of a castle but of course, cartoons generally come from the real thing. From across the water, it's just four massive towers with crenellated walls connecting the towers. I love it. 

I also love the approach sequence to Conwy along the town walls. I know this is a very modern approach (I mean it's not like residents of the town on Conwy back in the 1200s would go to the castle for a picnic on a Saturday afternoon or something) but the walk from the parking lot along the old walls getting you closer to this massive medieval fortress with each step definitely builds anticipation for your visit. Of course, you don't enter the castle the way they did back in the day. The original staircase (which is now mostly ruined) to the front door is super steep. The gentle paved ramp is much better for our 21st century physiques. 

The approach to Conwy along the city wall and the interior of the castle today.

There's something else that we got out of our visits to Conwy and Caernarfon: Edward I was one bad dude. And I'm not using bad in a good sense. Bad means bad here.

Maybe it was the time that he was alive. Maybe it was the fact that he was bigger and stronger than pretty much everyone around him (Edward was 6'-2"). Maybe it was the fact that he was personally involved in wars for much of his life (including one of the Crusades to the holy land). Maybe it was because he was the King of England. But Edward I (or Edward Longshanks as he was sometimes known) did not seem like a pretty nice guy.

The historical stories about Edward's fits of rage are a little unbelievable, including him ripping out some of his son's hair from his head and someone else dying in Edward's presence just because Edward was Edward. But there seems to be little debate about the fact that Edward had an unpredictable and fierce temper and was also vindictive. I mean he did put Daffyd ap Gruffudd's head on a spike, but that's not really all he did to that dude. He first had him dragged him alive through the streets of Shrewsbury, hanged him, revived him and then disemboweled him and burned his entrails while he was still alive. Of course, all kings might have behaved similarly back then. I'm not sure. 

He also seemed pretty vindictive towards the Welsh. Maybe they deserved it. But the kind of personal revenge he plotted and executed seemed petty. I mean moving in an entire population of loyal subjects just to make sure the locals (who I assume were automatically lower in social status) understood their place is a lot of effort to show someone who's boss. He also removed any sort of notion of there being a Prince of Wales who was actually Welsh. He crowned his own first-born son as the Prince of Wales, making his offspring the first non-native Prince of Wales in history, a tradition which continues to this day to still humiliate the Welsh. And that's outside of the whole mutilation of Daffyd ap Gruffudd's body while he was still alive. 

There is speculation that Edward used the story of the dream of Roman emperor Magnus Maximus as inspiration for the construction of Caernarfon castle. In the legend of Magnus Maximus, who had strong Welsh ties, the emperor dreamed that he met a beautiful princess and when he awoke, sent messengers out to find her while also building a castle to impress her. It is thought that the colored banding on the walls of Caernarfon is deliberately imitative of the walls of Constantinople and that the legend of Maximus' dream was a source of inspiration. World leaders using emperors from past and long dead empires as a source of real inspiration to guide decisions in an era far removed from those times? Sounds like crazy stuff to me. Or maybe it happens often. Who knows? 

The interior of Caernarfon and a view of the town wall from one of the Castle's towers.

These two impenetrable fortresses that Edward built that we visited by the way? Both captured by the Welsh.

OK, so it was really brief in one case. 

Caernarfon Castle was captured by Welsh rebel leader Madog ap Llwelyn in 1294 and held for a year. How awesome a name is Madog, by the way and I promise that's the last Llwelyn in this post. 

At Conwy in 1401, two Welshmen disguised themselves as carpenters convinced the guards to let them in while everyone who would usually be inside the Castle was at Good Friday services. The two "carpenters" then killed the guards and held the castle for 15 days before a surrender was negotiated. 

Were Conwy and Caenarfon worth keeping on our agenda despite our (probably snobbish) aversion to visiting castles? Probably. I'm glad we went, particularly to Conwy. Does that mean all castles are back on future agendas? Umm...no. There's still a high bar for an intentional castle visit for us, I think. But I definitely feel a little more connected to English / British history. Subtleties, I'm telling you. 

The original (now ruined) entrance to Conwy Castle.